FORTY years ago today 18 British soldiers were murdered by an IRA bomb at Warren Point.

Amongst those killed was 20-year-old Private Raymond Dunn from Swindon.

The attack happened near the Irish Border and came a matter of hours after the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

At the funeral of Pte Dunn, the Advertiser reported: “It could be nothing other than a moving ceremony.

“There was the appalling grief of his family. There was the Union Flag draped over the coffin. There was the stoic reserve of his colleagues who bore him aloft.

“And there was the enormous presence of civic leaders and ex-servicemen’s organisations.”

After his murder he was remembered by those who loved him as a young man who enjoyed building model aircraft, swimming and making people laugh with a gift for mimicry.

The Warren Point attack was one of the worst atrocities committed during the turbulent times in Northern Ireland.

Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment were travelling in a four-ton truck along a road close to the village of Warren Point.

As the truck passed Narrow Water Castle, terrorists detonated an explosive device under a parked lorry, using radio control.

The bomb and a second one detonated as the wounded were being rescued, killed the company commander, 15 soldiers from 2 Para and two from the Queen’s Own Highlanders.

Six other soldiers were also seriously injured.

At the time of the funeral, Pt Dunn’s mother, Doris, told the Advertiser: “He was very good at drama and would keep you amused all night impersonating people. One of his ambitions was to form a pop group and he had just bought a £700 guitar.

“Swindon was his town and Wiltshire was his county. Stonehenge was one of his favourite places and he took lots of photographs of it.

“It’s funny how he always wanted to be in the army. Raymond just lived for it, and I shall always remember the Captain telling me what a natural he thought he was. Then when he left school it was virtually straight into the paratroops.

The final resting place of Pte Raymond Dunn is at Christ Church in Old Town.

In remembrance of the event the BBC ran the documentary The Day Mountbatten Died last week, featuring newsreader Christopher Morris, from Royal Wootton Bassett, who delivered the tragic events.